Review: Truly Random, a RPG app for Android

Truly Random: RPG Die Roller

I cannot count the number of times my players have shown up without their dice. I cannot count the number of dice that have been lost over the years. And sometimes, I simply cannot count. What I’d like to share with you today is an app for android users that can alleviate these pains and bring so much more to your gaming table.

Its ease of use coupled with the ability to generate your own content (including specialized “dice sets”) helps to simplify the tedium of sifting through endless generation tables, rolling character specific abilities that may rarely be used (in my group, trips and charges), and so forth. Let us explore the features tab by tab.

RPG

When you first open the app, you’re confronted by a black screen. Bloody swords cross at the bottom right, and above you see several tabs. The first tab called “RPG” displays a simple scrolling interface. The upper scroll lists the number of dice to roll from 1-99. The next scroll lists specific dice, from d2-d100. The final scroll lists modifiers ranging from -99..+99. While this simple interface isn’t stylish, it is effective and versatile.

Now we throw in the ability to recall specific rolls! You can save a specific roll setup for later use i.e. Rapier 1d6+2. Once saved, you can select the roll from a drop-down menu to make it easy to roll your favorite weapon damage every time!

RPG+

Similar to the above dice roller, except that instead of a scrolling system you can type out the dice notation i.e. 4d6*10+3. There’s another twist here, however. You can create notation groups and save them to recall later. For instance, I created a group that rolls each of my skills simultaneously (1d20+modifier)! No longer do I have search my sheet for the right skill, line up a piece of paper to assure the right modifier, and do all of that pesky addition (yeah, I’m that lazy). On top of this madness, you can import and export these sets and share them with other people who have the program!

RPG Char

This tab helps make rolling initial stats very easy. Six rows hold four 6-sided dice. At the tap of the “Roll” button, all of these die generate a number and totals them to the right. If your GM offers the ability to reroll certain numbers, you can tap the dice you wish to reroll and tap the “Roll Selected” button to do so.

Lottery

The next tab doesn’t necessarily pertain to roleplaying, but it could come in handy in real life, or even if you run a lottery in-game. The “Lottery” tab contains a drop-down list that will generate numbers for MEGA Millions, Cash 3, and Cash 4 lottery tickets. You can also create your own lottery type and save it for later use (I created one for Powerball for when I feel like wasting $5).

Custom

Finally we come to the most useful tab of them all. The “Custom” tab allows you to create your own CUSTOM DICE SETS! This part of the app has a near infinite number of possibilities. If you’re the type of GM who is constantly using random generation charts, you can save these charts within the app and pull them up on a whim.

For instance, I created several dice sets that will randomly select a pick-pocketed item, choose a number of items one may find in a traveling caravan, items you may find on a dead body or stolen bag, and my baby, a tavern generator.

To further illustrate the power of this function, we’ll take a closer look at my tavern generator. At the tap of a button, I can create a robust tavern/inn with the following specs:

• Tavern Name
• Interior
• Menu
• Several alcohol selections including a wine and a fantasy drink that includes a description
• Generic and specific patrons
• An entertainer
• Rooms available for rent including mundane and strange features for a specific room.

Wrap Up

These dice sets can also be imported and exported to share with other people. Other features include the ability to generate dice expressions within a dice face, naming your dice for easy editing, as well as copy saved sets and as something different (good for using the app for multiple characters). Again, the functionality of this app is limitless. Not to mention the developer is quick to respond to ideas, requests, and concerns making the experience of owning this app easily worth the pennies I paid for it.

If you’ve purchased the app and want to use the tavern generator I mentioned above, you can find it by clicking the above website. I’d be happy to answer any questions on how to import it to the app or address any problems with doing so!

I too, like real dice being rolled… But I really like the custom random generator… Making custom tables for loot, pick pockets, inn, npc descriptions and quick backgrounds — could make life much easier!

This sounds really neat. I’ve been looking for a good dice roller, and haven’t really been impressed so far.

A question, if I could. Would it be possible to pre-generate the dice rolls for a specific encounter? So say I have 3 swordsmen, 2 archers, and a mage. I could create the attack rolls for each one before hand, save it as a template or something, and then just call it up later in game? Hit a button and it rolls attacks for all of them for a given round of initiative?

I think I like rolling the dice as well, but I would seriously consider something like this if it sped up game play. And quick rolls on monsters/npcs puts the time back in the players hands and lets me focus more on describing the action. I might trade a few dice rolls for that.

All of these equations can now be saved as a group. One roll will calculate the results for each equation in the group.

For your scenario, I should expect that you can create these attacks for each of your characters, save them as a group, and roll when needed. To make life even easier, these groups can be created as simple xml files and imported into the app.

As far as random generators go I so far have not found one that really sped up game play. However I have developed a technique that might be useful for you. When I’m preparing a session I look at all the NPCs I might use in a session and make sure they are “quick verted” This just means that I have added 10 to anything that might usually have a d20 roll added to it for a check. NPCs effectively take 10 on every thing and I have the player use the defensive roll variant. Saves turn into defenses and whenever an ability a player would use requires a save, subtract 10 from the save and make an attack roll using the remainder as a bonus. Anyway its kind of system specific “meaning d20 products” but I hope it helps. If not can’t hurt to try something new even if you end up going back to the standard ways of doing things.

Sorry for the delayed response: With the current system you can save specific dice notations and dice sets for such an encounter and load them up as needed. The dev just emailed me today about thoughts on how to implement a campaign-specific load file for a later update, actually, which would theoretically make your request even faster and more streamlined at the table. If you have any questions about how to use the app, saved files and such, drop me a comment on my Shared Files campaign that way I’ll get an email and be able to more quickly respond! http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/shared-creations/comments

Sorry for the delayed response: Yes! You can do this with very little trouble. You can even set it up to where it would roll all of the chosen creatures simultaneously. If you were really into it, you could save a “creature template” of sorts for each creature you plan to use in your ENTIRE CAMPAIGN simply by copying the base template, changing a few numbers in each template to fit the creature’s stats/rolls, and saving the template as that creature’s name to pull up for use when your PC’s encounter pops. I have a 3.5 character sheet template that does this, and I save each of my characters in this manner so I can pull them up independently.

So its truly random right?
How so? What do you do differently then other dice apps to keep it random?
I understand this its pretty hard to truly randomize something on computers, but more information would be appreciated 🙂

In regard to the actual random generation, the dev uses a Mersenne Twister as it “provides excellent distribution but is not adequate for cryptographic uses.” (from dev’s forums).

Of course, the generation isn’t the draw of the app. It’s the many features that come with it! The ability to save and load, import and export completely customize-able dice sets and notation groups is the boon of this app. Being able to quickly generate complex random results at the tap of a button is infinitely helpful in saving time and stress at the table. As an example of this, I humbly direct you to the image of my tavern generator in my “Shared Creations” campaign: an database of helpful sites for GM’s and players.